Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Hugs and Direct Eye Contact

My wife Anna and I were in a restaurant for breakfast one morning getting an early start going somewhere. At two nearby tables were seven young men. They looked clean-cut and each had a Bible, another book, and a notebook. I guessed they are students from a nearby Bible College.

Then in came 7 more of the same: young men with their Bibles and school stuff. I thought this should be interesting and it was. In a matter of maybe a brief minute or slightly more, each of the seven from each group hugged a greeting to each member in the other group. That is 49 hugs! Some of them were quick embraces and some were lovable bear hugs.

Behind the counter to take your order was an aged woman that had the word “Hell Raiser” as her name on her nameplate. I couldn’t help but looking at Hell Raiser, and just as I thought, she had a smirk and whispered something to a co-worker behind the counter, which caused her co-worker to burst into a giggle.

Hell Raiser strutted off proud of her wit.

I remembered one time a religious person in religious surroundings gave me a big lovable bear hug as a personable greeting. But yet, when I tried talking to him face to face, eye to eye contact his eyes shifted from one side to the other. I think instead of having a one on one personable conversation he was looking around for someone else to hug….. a good big hugs shows how personable of a person you are.

Speaking of hugs and eye-contact, one time I read an article of a study in tipping in a newspaper. If the waitress makes eye contact with the person paying the bill the amount of tip, on an average, jumps about 20%. This is also taking into fact the person paying the bill is one sex, and the one waiting is of opposite sex. With same sex, the percentage drops a little. Then, if the waitress should make body contact, maybe a casual brush against, or maybe a pat on the back, or whatever, the average tip jumps even more.

So with that in mind. I remember one time a lady running for country commissioner talked to me giving me direct eye-contact and then gave me a big hug. I voted for her, not caring what she stood for.